You’d think more emcees would’ve hopped on Nas’ “Nasty” beat. but as Jon Conner and now Slaughterhouse has shown, it’s a bare-bones beat that you aren’t allowed to come weak on. Slaughterhouse does it justice with a succession of rapid-fire deliveries held together by flows on a casual listen and clever but not overbearing punchlines for hardcore listeners who like to dissect every lyrical allusion. And coming as a surprise to no one, Joe Budden is the first rapper to debut a Colorado/Batman punchline.

This track will be a part of Slaughterhouse’s upcoming Gangsta Grillz mixtape with DJ Drama.

This is beautiful Hip-Hop right here! “NonFiction” is the first single off Rapsody’s upcoming album The Idea of Beautiful, set to drop on August 28. Leave it up to 9th Wonder and the rest of the Jamla Records army to show you how to incorporate R&B hooks into a radio-friendly track without it sounding like the cookie cutter, vapid songs that make up most radio Hip-Hop playlists.

SAN JOSE, CA — Robert Guerrero and Selcuk Aydin held their last public workouts yesterday before Saturday’s (July 28) clash at the HP Pavilion for the vacant WBC interim welterweight title. The skill level favors Guerrero, but it remains to be seen if The Ghost will carry any type of power up from lightweight. As you’ll see in the below photos, Aydin is a full-fledged welter and a strong one at that.

The bout airs live on Showtime at 10 p.m. ET. Tickets are still available.

PHOTO CREDIT: Tom Hogan – Hoganphotos/Golden Boy Promotions

Guerrero vs. Aydin, a 12-round fight for the WBC Interim Welterweight World Championship, is presented by Golden Boy Promotions in association with Arena-Box Promotion and sponsored by Corona, DeWalt Tools and AT&T. The SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING telecast will air live at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast) with Shawn Porter facing Alfonso Gomez for the NABO Welterweight title in the co-featured fight and preliminary fights to air live on SHOWTIME EXTREME® at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT.

Tickets priced at $252, $127, $62, and $26 are available for purchase online at Ticketmaster.com, charge by phone at (800) 745-3000 and at the HP Pavilion Ticket Office.

Miami-based producer and sound engineer TenDJiz blends together acapellas from two of Hip-Hop’s greatest lyricists, Nas and Common, with instrumentals derived from Soviet soul and jazz compositions to create CommoNasm. TenDJiz previously worked this concept on mash ups of De La Soul (De La Soulviet) and Q-Tip (Q-Tipokratiya) that met with good reviews.

This one starts off slow but builds well over the last half. The project can streamed and if you like it, check the free download link HERE.

Former WBO titleholder Sergei Liakhovich is ready to get back in the contender picture and has set his sights on undefeated Polish heavyweight Mariusz Wach.

A comeback is a tall order for the 36-year-old Liakhovich, who’s suffered stoppage losses in his last two bouts against Bryant Jennings (March 2012) and Robert Helenius (August 2011). With his last win coming in 2010, Liakhovich admits his recent slide was partly due to a lack of focus.

I took a few months off from boxing and now I’m ready to come back fresh,” Liakhovich explained. “In my last fight [against Bryant Jennings], I made a critical mistake underestimating my opponent. What drives me in this sport is a real challenge. It gives me that fire that all fighters need; the feeling of danger that pushes a fighter to do better. I admit not having prepared properly for my last fight. I didn’t even want to spend money for the right sparring partners because I thought it was going to be an easy fight. Unfortunately, I paid the price. Now, looking back, I wish I could change that but I can’t. All I can do now is get back in the ring and show everybody what I can really do.

Wach is ranked #4 by the WBC and holds victories over former fringe contenders Tye Fields and Kevin McBride. At this juncture in their careers, Liakhovich believes a fight would prove if Wach has the talent to become a legit contender.

Wach is saying in the media that he needs an opponent but nobody will fight him. Well, not only am I available, I’m willing to go to Poland and fight him right in his backyard. If he honestly believes he’s ready to take on the Klitschkos, first, let him fight somebody like me who has been world champion in order to prove to the boxing world that he’s deserves a world title fight. Is he a contender or pretender? Let’s find out. I understand that I have a lot to prove, to me and my fans, and I’m ready to do just that. How about you, Marius Wach, are you ready for the toughest fight of your career?

At press time, Liakhovich also has several American heavyweights on his wish list, including Seth Mitchell, Chris Arreola and Jonathon Banks.